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Research paper example essay prompt: Race And The Death Penalty - 1093 words

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RACE AND THE DEATH PENALTY In 1977 the unjust law
of capital punishment was once again enforced in
the American justice system. The use of Capital
punishment has instigated many discussions among
American criminologists. The use of the death
penalty as a form of justice has been banned from
many countries and states but there are still a
few American states that believe in this form of
punishment. Some of them include Texas, Georgia
and Virginia. There have been many academic
articles that have discussed the general pros and
cons of the death penalty, but there is one
specific issue that stands out from the others.
This issue includes racism and how its implicated
in the capital punishment system.

I will be
summarizing and analyzing the key point as well as
the rhetorical features of three articles written
by researchers in the justice system. There have
been numerous debates about the involvement of
racism in the death penalty system. Michael Kroll
has been a part of these debates by revealing
flaws and negative facts initiated by racism in
the death penalty system. He wrote the article
called "Buckle Of The Death Belt." This article
deals with the specific judicial district of
Chattahoochee, which is located in the state of
Georgia. This state is also know as The Nations
Executioner for its relatively high number of
prisoners on death row per year.

Another article
called "Racial Disparities in Federal Death
Penalty Prosecutions 1988-1994," written by the
subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights,
deals with the underlying principle that racial
minorities are being prosecuted under federal
death penalty law far beyond their proportion in
the general population or the population of
criminal offenders. The third article is called
"The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives,
Who Dies, Who Decides," written by Richard C.
Dieter. This report releases two new studies which
show that the continuing injustice of racism in
the application of the death penalty. All three
articles are written for the general public and
can be very informative for many reasons. I will
focus on the key points of the articles, as well
the important style and features of the articles,
which makes the article more convincing to the
audience.

For these articles the main argument
that the writer is trying to portray is racism
does occur in the justice system and should be
recognized and changed. In the first article
written by Michael Kroll, he states that the
Chattahoochee Judicial District in Georgia is a
microcosm of the national disgrace. Nearly 20
years after the supreme court held the death
penalty as being unconstitutional, largely because
of racial discrimination, the death penalty in
America continues to reflect the worst part of the
judicial system: racism, unequal treatment of the
poor, and abuse of discretion by prosecutors and
other politicians seeking higher positions. By the
end of 1990, 20 people were imposed by the death
penalty (Radelet). Out of those twenty, more than
half were black men, who were tried by all-white
juries.

The District Attorney used his discretion
to remove every black potential juror. While black
people account for 65 percent of all homicide
victims, the DA seeks the death penalty almost
exclusively in white victims cases. Families of
white murder victims are treated with dignity and
respect by the DAs office, while black victims
families are abused or ignored. The DA has sought
the death penalty in nearly 40 percent of the
cases where the defendant was black and the victim
white, in 32 percent of the cases where both
defendant and victim were white, in just 6 percent
of the cases where both the defendant and victim
were black and never where the defendant was white
and the victim black (Radelet). Kroll emphasizes
the fact that by executing more than any other
state, 80 percent of them black, Georgia has
earned the title," The Nations Executioner." The
history of the death penalty in America can be
seen in Georgias cases: Furman vs.

Georgia (1972)
[1] which resulted in the death penalty due to
racial discrimination (Douglas), Gregg vs. Georgia
(1976), Coker vs. Georgia (1977) [2] as well as
many others were seen to have sentenced the
defendant to death despite strong evidence that
race of victim is the most important variable in
predicting who will be sentenced to death. Krolls
argument about the presence of racism in the
decision of the DA is strongly supported by the
statistics and facts, but racist action is very
difficult to prove since racism is a feeling, and
it is very difficult to obtain strong evidence of
the feelings of people. Although sometimes the
evidence is present, it is disregarded.

For
example in four different capital trials in
Georgia the defense layer referred to his client
as "nigger" (Kroll). Even after these derogatory
comments, no action was taken by the court to
ensure an equal trial for the prosecutor and
defendant. Even so, Krolls logical approach to the
case gives a very convincing argument. He does
this by providing graphs and charts that show
clearly the trends that prove his point. These are
some of the important graphs and charts, which he
presents in his article: 1) Black Capital
Defendants Convicted In Chattahoochee Judicial
District Through 1990* Defendant Date of Sentence
DA's Discretionary Juror Strikes Jury Composition
Verdict White Black White Black Mulligan 11/4/76 4
4 12 0 death Bowden 12/9/76 0 10 12 0 death Graves
2/17/77 4 4 12 0 life Gates 9/1/77 unavailable
unavailable 12 0 death Brooks 11/18/77 6 5 12 0
death Hance 12/16/78 1 9 11 1 death Lewis 7/19/79
1 8 12 0 death Hance 5/12/84 1 7 11 1 death Gary
8/27/86 5 5 9 3 death Bright 7/13/90 3 7 8 4 death
* The DA sought the death penalty 38.7 percent of
the time when the defendant was black and the
victim white, 32.4 percent when both defendant and
victim were white, 5.9 percent when both defendant
and victim were black, and never when the
defendant was white and the victim black; 2)
*(Statistical research for Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6
provided by Michael L.

Radelet, PH.D., University
of Florida, Gainesville) Towards the end of his
article he shifts his focus to a broader view of
the United States. For example, in Philadelphia, a
single judge is responsible for sentencing 26
people to death- two of whom were white. Secondly,
A Native American in California had his original
death sentence reversed because of prevailing
racism in the sentencing county, and was acquitted
at retrial in a different county. Of the 148
people executed nationwide since 1977, nearly 90
percent were sentenced for killing white people,
though black people continue to be victims of
murder at a rate six times greater than white
people (Ibid). Kroll presents a very disturbing
fact that since the death penalty was reinstated
in the 1970s, not a single white person has been
executed for taking the life of a black person.